Railroad-chair machinery



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

BENJ. F. GOSSIN, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY.

A RAILROAD-CHAIR MACHINERY.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,783, dated October 10, 1854.

To all 107mm i?? may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. GossiN, of the city of Covington, county of Kenton, and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Making Railroad Chairs for Connecting the Ends of the Rails Together; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, and similar letters and figures are made to refer to corresponding parts of the machine.

The nature of my improvement consists in the peculiar construction of portions of the machine for the purpose of cutting and turning the lips of the chairs so as they will properly fit around the lower flange of the rails; this article (as before stated) is commonly denominated a railroad chair and used for connecting the ends of the rails together and thereby forming one continuous track.

The machine consists of a frame work made of iron principally and provided with two shafts and one end of each shaft is bent into a crank form and provided with cutters so as the face of them will be an inch more or less below the center of the shaftswhich are laid side by side on the top of the frame-and directly under the cutters there is a table attached, the top of which extends about ush with the top of the cutters attached to the shaft for the purpose of laying the blank plate on in a heated statefrom which the complete chair is formed by holding the blank to the table before mentioned with a piece of frame work which is permanently attached to one side of the machine and made to elevate on its opposite side in order to remove the chair after completed by the clipping and bending process. This frame work is provided with cutters directly over the chair which acts as shears when the cutters on the shafts are brought into actionthe cutters attached to the frame are Xed to a separate piece and made adjustable by means of a key or otherwise equivalent for the purpose of suiting different thicknesses of iron or compensating for the wear of the cutters. There is four cutters attached to the frame work so as when they are brought into operation the ones on the shaft are brought up between them-which are made narrower at the outer than at the inner ends in order to give them perfect freedom to fall after performing the clipping and turning--from the chairs.

The shafting is driven by gearing placed on the opposite end from t e cutters the gearing consists of semicircular wheels on each shaft and are provided or driven by pinions which are so attached to the frame of the machine as to be thrown out or in gear by means of a system of levers.

When the machine is put into operation the shafts are thrown in gear and allowed to revolve slowly outward and upward in opposite directions (the blank being placed properly in the machine preparatory to its operation) and then the cutters clip and turn the lips of the chair to such a formas is required, after which the pinions.are

thrown out of gear from the semicircular wheels by the levers before mentioned, or by placing a projection of iron between two adjacent teeth in the wheel at the required point of disconnecting the pinions from the wheels which process strike the pinions simultaneously on each side and thereby throw each out of gear and permit the shafts to fall back so as to bring the cutters in a proper position for receiving another blank, and proceeding in the operation as just described.

The shafts never fail in resuming the proper position after completing a chair to receive another which is admirably effected and made self acting by the gravity of the semicircular wheels placed on them as wili be duly sworn when reference is given to the accompanying drawing.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement l will proceed to describe 'its construction and operation' by direct reference to the accom'- panying drawings-which will be specified collectively.

Figure 1 represents a top view of the machine in a supposed complete state with the frame work removed-employed for holding the chair to the table during the process of cutting and turning-this view also represents the gearing and shafting employed for running the machinery. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal sectional view of the machine direct through its center showing the manner of attaching the table. Fig. 3, is an under or face view of the frame work `to which the upper cutters are attached.

'of one of the crank shafts to which the lower cutters are attached. Fig. 5 represents a back elevation of the machine showing a face view of the semicircular wheels and pinions employed to operate the cutter shafts, together with the means employed for throwing the pinions out of gear. Fig. 6 represents a front elevation of the machine showing the manner of holding the chair to the table during the process of cutting and turning its lips, and mode of lifting the frame work up for removing the chair when completed.

The following is a description of the machine, referring direct to the drawings by the letters and .figures of reference marked thereon: The principal frame work of the machine is composed of iron and represented by a, a, which may be set on a wooden or iron frame as may be desired.

(B, 13,) represents the crank shafts, Fig. 4 showing the side view of the crank-and manner of attaching the cutter 10. The shafts are provided with semicircular wheels fm. m, at the opposite end from the cranks and set in motion by means of the pinions n n, which are worked with the shafting 20, 20, and 1S, and gearing 19, 19. Fig. 1, fully shows the position of the differentparts. The pinions n., n, are thrown in and out of gear by having the pillow blocks z., 7a, made movable-and which are worked by means of the levers 13 and 111, and the rods 15, which is provided with a crank 16 at the front end of the machine, where the operator stands.

(Z, CZ, represents the pillow blocks in which the crank shafts revolves which are secured to the frame work by bolts and adjusted side ways by means of set screws as represented in F ig. 1.

f represents the table attached to the under part of the machine by means of bolts or otherwise on which the blank plate is laid from which complete chair is formed. This table is cnt away in the center on each side to admit of the cutters revolving up as is represented in Fig. 1.

g, g, represent the frame work provided with a sliding piece s, to which the cutters 11, 11, are attached. This frame work as before stated is for holding the chair down to the table during the operation of making, which is done by the catch 17, on the lifting end of the frame, the catch being made to answer the double purpose of holding the frame to its place when down and serving as a handle to elevate it to take the chair from the machine when completed.

Tn cutting and turning the lips of the chair, it is obvious if the cutters were made straight or so their sides would be parallel with each other, they would have a tendency to stick in releasing them from a completed chair. This is eifectually prevented by giving the cutters on the shafting (which are No. 10) a gradual taper from the inner to the outer ends as represented in F ig. 1, and the top cutters are thus attached to the frame g are made narrower at the inner than at the outer ends. These cutters are attached to the frame by means of bolts or otherwise equivalent and two are forged together and the outer cutter is provided with a recess 12 to admit of the mandrel being placed on the chair for forming the lips of it around. The mandrel is made in form to correspond with the bottom flange of a rail intended for.

21 represents a blank plate properly placed on the table f, from which a chair is about to be formed by the process of cutting and turning the lips around the mandrel as before described.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The crank shafts B, B, are placed in a proper position for receiving the blank plate 21, from which the chair is formed, which is to bring the cutters 10, 10, parallel and about even with the face of the table f on which the plate is laid in a hot state and then the frame work g, g, to which the upper cutters 11, 11 are attached is brought down on the plate and secured there by the catch 17, to the lower part of the frame as represented in llig. 6; then the machine is set in operation by throwing the pinion in gear with the semicircular wheels m, m, which causes the cutters 10, 10 to revolve outward and upward between the cutters 11, 11, attached to the frame or head piece g, g, until the lips of the chair have been cut and turned around the mandrel suilicient to suit, when the pinions are thrown out of gear from the semicircular wheels, and permits them to revolve back again in a proper position to receive another blank. The shafting revolves to its proper position when the chair is completed without the aid of any machinery, its movement being made self acting from the gravity of the semicircular wheels which are attached to the shafts in such a relative position with the cutters as always to insure them to come right in their position. When the chair is completed it is removed from the machine by elevating the frame g g as is represented in Fig. 6 with dotted lines and is then made ready to receive another blank and pass through the operation as before described.

When the pinions are thrown out of gear from the wheels, it is effected by the levers 13 and 14 and rod 15, but as the exact distance of working the knives should always come to a given point and as this method of throwing the pinions out of gear depends on the attention of the operator whose inattention often permits the shafts to revolve too far up and thereby breaks certain portions of the machine. To obviate this the throwing out of the pinions are made self acting by placing a piece of iron between two adjacent teeth at such places on the wheels as each will strike the pinions at the same time and thereby throw them from the wheels or by casting a plain surface at the ends of the rims of the wheels as represented at in Fig. 5, or on such parts of the rims of the Wheels as will suit the amount of motion required from the shafts.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The combination of the semicircular wheels, (m, m,) pillow blocks h, 71., rods 13 and 14; lever 22, and rod 15, for giving motion to the crank shafts and throwing in and out of gear for the purposes before mentioned in the foregoing specication.

2. I claim the combination of the two crank shafts B, B, the cutters 10, 10, attached to the said crank frame g, g, and cutters 11, ll, attached to the said frameall for the purpose of cutting the lips from the blank plate and turning the same around the mandrel and thereby forming the completed chair as before mentioned.

3. I claim the tapering of the two set of cutters 10 and 1l so as the cutters 10, and 10, will fall freely from the chair after being completed for the purpose set forth in the foregoing specification.

4:. I claim the adjustable sliding-piece S, to which the cutters 117 l1, are attached by means of bolts or their mechanical equivalentthe piece S, is held to its place by the key K-and is made so as to adjust the cutters to suit diiferent thicknesses of iron or to compensate for the wear of the cutters.

5. I claim the table f, f, on which the blank chair is laid between the two set of cutters, 10 and 11, the upper surface of said table extending up flush with the upper surface of the shaft cutters-and in this case attached to the framing of the machine at its under partby means of bolts-or to any other part of the machinethat may be desired-and substantially effect the purpose required all for the purpose set forth in the foregoing specification.

BENJ. F. GOS SIN.

Attest JOHN NEBLER, j g MANNING F. FORCE. I j 

